Tag Archive | umi

I probably should have written this post immediately after our return, but exhaustion took over and I desperately needed a vacation from my vacation. Plus, a lot has been happening in our lives, so I really haven’t had time or energy to write much. Hell, my newsletter hasn’t had anything go out since March. Yes, I am *that* behind.

I’d also like to preface this by saying that this is the first vacation I’ve taken that didn’t involve any kind of work whatsoever in ages. I mean, it’s been so fucking long that I can’t even recall how many years have passed. That shit is just unacceptable.

I think I’ll just mostly show you in pictures what our trip was like. BTW, Florida was absolutely gorgeous while we were there. An all-day thunderstorm hit the day after we arrived and it was glorious. Also, I am not allergic to the state….for the most part.

The main reason we were even heading to Florida was because one of my oldest and dearest friends, MrsLoki, was getting married to the love of her life. Finally. Let me emphasize that….FINALLY. Anyway, it was a beautiful wedding and I was happy to be there for her. Our friend D was gracious enough to share her suite with us, and we had a blast the entire weekend.

And we’re off…

First, let me show you the amazing suite we had at Mystic Dunes resort. It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite with a full kitchen. That second image was my bathroom and it was glorious. We had an amazing view of one of the golf courses from the patio in back, and a view of one of several pools from the front door.

(Click on the thumbnails to view larger images)

Next, the wedding. And yes, the groom arrived in a helicopter, walking off like he was Tony Stark. Perfect. First image is from the Bachelorette party, of course. After that, we went to see Captain America: Civil War because duh. Of course, the day before this blessed event, we spent the day crossing Hogwarts off of Umi’s Bucket List.

Now, on to Hogwarts and Umi’s incredible 70th birthday!

Hogwarts, OMG!!!

There’s a lot going on here, but basically this was our walk through the park, starting with the sign Umi put on the front of her cart. We’d gotten her a cart at the park and she rode around on that thing wearing her hat and her birthday pin so every employee who saw her would say, “Happy Birthday!” To which she would respond by whipping her head around, plastering a big smile on her face, and say, “Thank you!” BTW, yes, she did try to run people over a few times.

Had to get this shot. It *was* her 70th bday after all

For Umi’s birthday dinner, I made stuffed tilapia and roasted asparagus. We had Red Velvet cake and wine for dessert, and Umi had a wonderful birthday.

Saturday night, D and I were up until 4 a.m. talking on the patio, which gave us about four hours to sleep as checkout was at 10 a.m.

I’m not even going to talk about Orlando’s airport because I’ll just get pissed off all over again and I don’t need that kind of negativity right now.

In early 2010, right after I’d moved down to Tucson and in with my friend Heather a.k.a. Kitty, the Gallbladder of Doom struck her a month after it’d struck her sister CJ Redwine, and for two months, I took care of her. Since then, the Gallbladder of Doom has come for many of my friends, it seems.

Now it has reared its ugly head yet again.

On June 8, 2015—five days before my birthday—Umi called me before noon crying because she was in a lot of pain. And I know it was a lot of pain because she called me at work crying and telling me to come home. I panicked a little, but for the most part kept calm. I think I surprised my co-workers by how calm I was. It’s perfectly normal for me to be the rock for everyone else in my family. That’s the way it’s always been, so panic is not an option. Now, when it comes to my mother, I will tend to “lose it,” but only when she’s either not in my line of sight or when it’s not imperative that I get to her in one piece….like on June 8, 2015. I needed to drive 11 miles from work to my home so that I could assess the situation and get her ass to the ER, which took some persuasion, by the way.

Once I got her to the ER, they got her back there quickly. Umi already has COPD and is on blood thinners because she had a pulmonary embolism several years ago, so they decided 10 hours later and after a CT Scan, an ultrasound, and the HIDA scan, that they wanted to do the surgery the next morning. They finally admitted her to the hospital. When the time came for her surgery the next morning, her INR was 4.1, which is incredibly high and she would bleed out if they did the surgery. So we had to wait another day. By Wednesday, her INR was down to 1.5, an acceptable level for the surgery. The surgeon told me her gallbladder was very infected and he took care of the hernia while in there. Meanwhile, they’re all surprised by her attitude because she’s cracking everyone up and not acting like she’s in pain at all. But that’s Umi. Ever the joker, always willing to make others laugh, makes friends everywhere she goes. She hides her pain well.

I’d always thought that my ability to mask my pain was due to my being a Gemini, but it’s apparent to me now that I’ve inherited it from my mother. And her Taurusian stubbornness.

Here’s basically a rundown of what happened while at the hospital all week…

Due to the fact that her insurance had yet to activate, we need a little help with her medical bills. We’d appreciate any help at all. It’s been a pretty crazy month, but that’s another post altogether.

…how difficult and distorted and cruel life can be at times, and how some of that is my fault.

Most know that Umi (my mother–yes, I have to remind you now and then) has the beginning stages of dementia, or as we like to call it, demential (thanks for the typo, Zia). It helps to joke about it because if you’re familiar at all with dementia, you know how frustrating and heartbreaking it can be when things start fading from your mind or the mind of someone you love.

Umi forgets things…a lot. Not as often as my grandmother did…yet, but I’ve learned to not argue about memories that differ from my own. There’s really no point. It’s not going to change her memory to the correct one. So you’d think I’d be more understanding when she locks herself out of the house and has to call me at work because she’s locked herself out of the house. There’s a Post-It note on the door specifically for this reason and it is at her eye level. She even admits that she sees it every time she opens the door. And yet, she walked right out the door without her keys and locked the door behind her. She’s locked herself out probably about six times in the past year.

Did I mention frustration?

I was a horrible daughter last Thursday. I made my mother cry. I knew that before I even walked out of the building to head home to let her back in and I felt like complete shit the whole way home. And the whole way back to work. Why I was frustrated doesn’t even matter, and it really had little to do with this particular incident. I’m afraid that she’s going to forget where she lives one of these days and it’ll be a story on the news. It scares the ever-living hell out of me to think that that could be the future. So while my frustration stems from a place of fear for my mother’s well-being, it gives me no right to snap at her for forgetting to grab her keys.

People won’t remember 90% of what you say, but they’ll remember how you made them feel.

I apologized before I went back to work, told her I loved her, and on the way home from Princess the Chihuahua’s vet appointment later that afternoon, I bought her ice cream and Arby’s. It’s nowhere near enough. Losing thirty minutes of my time at work is nothing compared to losing my mom. Nothing.

First, I’d like to wish you all a wonderful Christmahannukwanzadan, or whatever you celebrate. Umi and I are celebrating in a small way, in that it’s just the two of us.

Second, I just released another book! It’s the first of my Prophecy series, and it’s loaded with vampyres, werewolves, and gods and goddesses. This book is the revamped (pun intended) version of The Vampyre Prophecy, so for those of you who read the original, I’m so very sorry. I split the original book in half, sort of. The Dracove is book I, and Gods & Vampyres is book II, which will be released in January provided my professors don’t drive me bonkers.

Right now, it’s on sale for $0.99, so get your ass over there and buy, or at least hit the “like” button for me.

How much time do we really have before we die, and does immortality truly exist?

Kylie O’Rourke has unwittingly walked into the path of two vampyres—one who wants to use her as a sacrifice, and one who only wishes to win her heart. As she is pulled into their clandestine world, she learns more about her history and the reason behind her horrible nightmares.

Master vampyre Cianán searches for the one woman who could take his immortality to the next level—godhood. But, when he finds his Chosen One, his progeny Grantlund stumbles onto the Master’s plan . . . again. As if losing his first sacrifice to the bastard wasn’t enough, the Fates were to torment him with a second time.

NL Gervasio‘s book The Dracove is now available for purchase! Just click on the book cover and it will take you to the book on Amazon.

Last May, I posted Conversations with Umi, right before Umi’s birthday, which is May 6th (remember that, folks). One of the conversations involved Palm Sunday (look below post), which just passed last week. Since I had a complete JinxieFail on posting about Palm Sunday being on April Fool’s Day *snorts* (and I totally wouldn’t have forgotten had it been Easter to fall on that day), I’ve decided to do another Umi post. I mean, hey, her birthday is coming up anyway, right?

By the way, if you haven’t discovered it yet, Umi has her very own Facebook Fanpage. You should go “like” it, if you haven’t yet. She’s quite fucking hysterical.

Let us begin, shall we? I’ve pulled these from her fanpage.

* * * * *

UMI: Do you need someone to go with you for the EEG?

JINX: No.

UMI: You can’t drive if you’re drugged.

JINX: I won’t be drugged. They’re studying my brainwaves.

UMI: That won’t take long…

* * * * *

JINX: Oh noes! You missed #NCIS!

UMI: Fuck a dick!

JINX: *snorts and falls over*

* * * * *

UMI: I was going to go to bed, but I don’t think I’ve seen this #NCIS….ooh, I’ve got chocolate!

* * * * *

UMI: I’m gonna go lay down for a bit.

JINX: OK, love you, mom.

UMI: I’m not going to bed!

JINX: I know.

UMI: You love me anyway?

JINX: Of course I do.

* * * * *

UMI: I’ve got Hogwarts down on my Bucket List!

* * * * *

UMI: *to firefighter on TV* You must not have seen that spot on the application that says “ugly guys need not apply.”

In lieu of my cooking escapades this week, I’ve decided to share with you something I’ve found recently – one of Umi’s poems. That’s right, my mother is a poet and has several of them…somewhere around here. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Most of you know, especially if you follow me on Twitter or are a Facebook friend, the kind of week and a half I’ve had. My paternal grandmother passed away on June 11th, two days before my birthday, and I spent my birthday at the mortuary and cemetery planning g-ma’s services with my uncle, as well as taking Umi, my mother, to the ER. During the course of this, I was awake for 35 hours–from 3pm June 12th to 2am June 14th. On the bright side, I can officially say that I was awake for my ENTIRE day of birth. How many of you can claim that? I thought not.

Anyway, Umi stayed in the hospital until Thursday when I brought her home. Friday morning, we held the services for g-ma and I was gone for most of the day because after the service, we had a luncheon. What? We’re Italian. We eat after any event. Friday night, while I was over at g-ma’s for a BBQ (yes, more food), Umi called and I had to take her to the ER again. She’s still at the hospital, though they’ve moved her out of ICU. Congestive heart failure or something like that. Although, her texts the other night were hilarious. My mother has a strange sense of humor, even when she’s sick and in pain. It’s no wonder where I get it from. The whole of my family, meaning both sides, has a very macabre sense of humor anyway, and I’ll explain that in another post.

In the midst of all these family emergencies, I did the final edit on my new book Nemesis. We finally got it out the door Monday and it should be available now on the Running Ink Press website.

And as I hop all over the damn place, from mortuary to cemetery to hospital to chapel to hospital to *breathe* home, a cavalcade of text messages, DMs, Facebook messages, emails, etc. have come through over the past several days, all asking the same question–What do you need?

It’s a good question, and I wish I could answer it, but the truth is, I don’t know what I need aside from my mother getting better. I’ve commanded that she’s not allowed to die for at least a year. She’d better listen to me. But she’s scared. She said so Sunday night when I visited. And considering that my maternal grandfather shot me a message Saturday night during a palm reading, I understand because I’m scared too. He said to me, through my aunt the psychic, “You’re strong enough for this, for what’s coming.”

Yeah, kinda creepy, right? Actually, I know exactly why he said that. Earlier in the day, as I sat on my computer doing some final quick touches on my book, I broke down in tears out of the blue, and said, “I can’t do this.” I know I can, that I’m strong enough to get through whatever comes my way. I mean, shit, I’ve been to hell and back several times over the years. But sometimes I have that moment of weakness, where it feels like everything’s going to fall apart. And since it wasn’t so long ago that my life actually did fall apart, it kind of ups the ante on the moments of weakness and when they hit. Truly, that moment really is a moment in time, it’s a few seconds and then I’m fine.

So, really, what I need right now is to just breathe, to make sure Moon gets attention because she doesn’t know where my mom is or why she’s gone right now, to continue doing the things I need to do over at my grandmother’s house for my aunt, and to tell you to go buy my fucking book, Nemesis.😉